The Āgneya Kāṇḍa · Chapter Overview
From The Sāmaveda — The Veda That Is Sung, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
<pre data-block="statement"> The Pūrvārcika, the "earlier collection", holds 650 mantras. Its main body is arranged by deity into three kāṇḍas — Āgneya for Agni, Aindra for Indra, Pāvamāna for Soma — followed by the Āraṇya and Mahānāmnī collections. The Āgneya Kāṇḍa opens the whole Veda. It runs from verse 1 to verse 114 — all of the first prapāṭhaka and the first two daśatis of the second — and closes with the colophon ityāgneya parvaṃ kāṇḍam, "thus the Agni section." But remember what these verses are FOR. They are not primarily to be read. Each is a yoni, a seed-verse, on which a melody is sung, and the manuscripts write the melody's name in the margin beside it. Verse 1 carries the Parka and the Bārhiṣya; verse 17 the Vāravantīya; verse 27 the Agner-vrata; verse 73 the Śyena. The Ārcika is a singer's index. The Gānas are the music. Twelve of its mantras follow. Ten are word-for-word identical to their Ṛgvedic originals — and the other two are where this chapter gets interesting. </pre>